Lithograph (pulled from stone)
18 x 22 inches (bleed print - image fills entire sheet) on Rives BFK
published by the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative in January, 2021
Master printer: Melody Vaughan
Facilitated by Deborah Maris Lader
Profits of sold prints will benefit the South Side Community Arts Center as part of a fundraiser spearheaded by Chicago Printers Guild.
all sold prints will come with provenance and full documentation. There is some slight variation in the edition, as can be expected with hand made prints pulled from stone.
Artist Statement
That flash of chance. The moment when a card player, hand held aloft, bristles with the power of throwing down a winner. It was one I witnessed often as a child glimpsing the joy of my parents’ community gathered for the game inside of a Black microcosm where the outside world fell away. To me it seemed transcendent.
I take the form and symbolism of the playing card, loaded with the hope and mystery it carries, and I turn it to my own artistic purpose. This lithograph is an act of intercession, continuing a series based on the card. But it’s not a game. It is an instinct, a protest, a willful enchantment that strikes out as a protection over our descendants. The duality of the figures is my prayer for the unity that young people need to stand against toxic gender norms. The peregrine falcons carry the freedom, and fierce agility required for the task at hand.
Special thanks from the artist to master printer Melody Vaughan and Deborah Maris Lader of the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative for helping me pull this image out of the lithography stone, and of course for their support of the South Side Community Art Center.